Candide

Hundreds of Bay Area RNs from several hospitals have begun a ten day
strike. Wages aren't the issue, rather concerns over staffing, break
time, and lifting of patients.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8660127

Mary Ann Voellinger, a supervisory nurse who has worked in Eden's emergency
room for 22 years, said there were three days last week when she did not
get an afternoon break because there was no one to relieve her.

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and Berkeley has offered a
16.5 percent wage hike over 3 1/2 years. That would increase the average
pay for a full-time nurse from $123,000 to $145,000.

"Candide" <PityMePines@anywhere.com> wrote in message

Hundreds of Bay Area RNs from several hospitals have begun a ten day
strike. Wages aren't the issue, rather concerns over staffing, break
time, and lifting of patients.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8660127

Three walkouts in six months? Something is seriously wrong here.

Mary Ann Voellinger, a supervisory nurse who has worked in Eden's
emergency
room for 22 years, said there were three days last week when she did
not
get an afternoon break because there was no one to relieve her.

Wow, a whole three days that the nurse didn't get relieved. And it's
a news
item. I haven't been relieved for lunch in over a year. But the
hospital
docks me every day as if I were. We have no lift teams, either, nor
mechanical lifts, nor a PT department. That would cost money. My
hospital
has a stellar reputation. My back hurts.

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and Berkeley has offered
a
16.5 percent wage hike over 3 1/2 years. That would increase the
average
pay for a full-time nurse from $123,000 to $145,000.

I know the COL is high in California, but dayum, those are some pretty
wages. A nurse who's lived there for many years and bought a home
before
the prices went insane could live extremely well, methinks.

Wow, a whole three days that the nurse didn't get relieved. And it's a news
item. I haven't been relieved for lunch in over a year. But the hospital
docks me every day as if I were. We have no lift teams, either, nor
mechanical lifts, nor a PT department. That would cost money. My hospital
has a stellar reputation. My back hurts.

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and Berkeley has offered a
16.5 percent wage hike over 3 1/2 years. That would increase the average
pay for a full-time nurse from $123,000 to $145,000.

I know the COL is high in California, but dayum, those are some pretty
wages. A nurse who's lived there for many years and bought a home before
the prices went insane could live extremely well, methinks.

I woudl get in touch with the local Dept of Labor Wage & Hour
Division office. It has been awhile, but at least one of the area
hospitals ended up having to pay OT, plus interest, plus a fine for
people not getting their lunches. Same with making you clock out at end
of shift but staying around to finish the work.

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and Berkeley has offered a
16.5 percent wage hike over 3 1/2 years. That would increase the average
pay for a full-time nurse from $123,000 to $145,000.

I know the COL is high in California, but dayum, those are some pretty
wages. A nurse who's lived there for many years and bought a home before
the prices went insane could live extremely well, methinks.

Kurt Ullman wrote:
I woudl get in touch with the local Dept of Labor Wage & Hour
Division office. It has been awhile, but at least one of the area
hospitals ended up having to pay OT, plus interest, plus a fine for
people not getting their lunches. Same with making you clock out at
end
of shift but staying around to finish the work.


My hospital has tried repeatedly to get me to clock in within no more
than seven
minutes before I'm scheduled. When we got our last manager, one of
the early
things she did was drag each and every one of us into her office to
spank us for
our transgressions... something the manager before her had just
ignored.
Anyway, my personal sin was tardiness. Not more than 5 minutes but it
happened
fairly regularly. I was just leaving the house a little late and
cutting it too
close. (Avoidance behavior)

OK. I just started leaving the house earlier. I started arriving
early *every*
time. I haven't been late in the last 5 years. But then they whine
about me
clocking in early. Well, fuck that. I clock in when I get there.
I'm only
there for their benefit and I start work related tasks immediately
upon arrival.
I don't go to the can to take a dump (like some do). I don't wander
down to the
cafeteria to get breakfast (like some do). I get my assignment and
start
getting my report. They can damned well pay me for it. And if they
don't want
to, there's always the Labor Board. It wouldn't be the first time
I've called
them. I'm pretty sure I can find the number again.


Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and Berkeley has
offered a
16.5 percent wage hike over 3 1/2 years. That would increase the
average
pay for a full-time nurse from $123,000 to $145,000.

I know the COL is high in California, but dayum, those are some
pretty
wages. A nurse who's lived there for many years and bought a home
before
the prices went insane could live extremely well, methinks.


I passed that article along to my friends and we're all blown away.
We earn
about a third of that. Of course, living in the South is cheap. I
just
question if it's that cheap. No, I suspect it's my employers who're
cheap. I
do love them so.

OK. I just started leaving the house earlier. I started arriving early
*every* time. I haven't been late in the last 5 years. But then they
whine about me clocking in early. Well, fuck that. I clock in when I get
there. I'm only there for their benefit and I start work related tasks
immediately upon arrival. I don't go to the can to take a dump (like some
do). I don't wander down to the cafeteria to get breakfast (like some
do). I get my assignment and start getting my report. They can damned
well pay me for it. And if they don't want to, there's always the Labor
Board. It wouldn't be the first time I've called them. I'm pretty sure I
can find the number again.

Yeah, but house prices went insane in CA in the mid-50s or so(g).
In the mid-90s United Airlines opened a maintenance hub in Indy and
transferred people from San Fran. They were saying that what they were
getting for their 2 bed room bungalows would buy 4 bedroom waterfront
homes here in Indy.

NYC hospitals are always moaning about how they cannot attract
and hold quality nurses even at what some consider "decent" wages. Many
Long Island hospital are finding out even when recruiting nurses from
abroad, finding them housing in that market isn't cheap either. Some
have started building nurses dorms again, or similar sort of housing.
Moi? Never liked nurses residences, it means management knows where you
are and can come to get you if they need warm bodies. It also means one
has little or no excuse to beg off duty say when the weather is bad and
roads even worse, as the response will always be, "you can walk here".

I am compulsively early. If I'm on time, I feel like I'm late. The traffic
here is also bananas, even at 5 am. I was clocking in early for over a year
without a peep, and then at the end of last year, I got hate mail from HR.
So I set my clock 15 minutes later. I still get to work early, because I
just move faster due to my compulsion to be early. I rationalize it as my
compensation for never getting a lunch break.

Let's get back to that. Why aren't you getting lunch every day? Believe
me, the work will still be there if you're 30 minutes later in doing it.
You need to just say, "the hell with it... I'm going to lunch" and go. It
is considered poor manners to ask somebody to watch my patients if there's
likely to be any more than the most minimal of needs to meet... so I make
sure everybody's got their pain meds and the IV bags are good to go for
at least the next hour or two. When somebody agrees to watch my patients
the chances are they won't have to do a thing. I expect the same from
them.

On the rare occasion where I truly don't manage to get down to the
slopateria before it closes, I write in our exception book the date and
the words "no lunch". Then they pay me for 30 minutes extra. (We are
required to be there from 0700-1930 while they normally pay us only for 12
hours.)

If you are systematically being cheated out of lunch by management then
you need to let your fingers do the walking to the Labor Board. Slavery
isn't tolerated in the United States any more, no matter what management
tells you. OTOH, if you don't get lunch simply because you can't make
yourself take it... well, then that's your problem. Grow a set or have
them descend, as appropriate.